Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to control systems and, more specifically, to configuring control systems.
Brief Description of the Related Art
Field Device Tool (FDT) applications provide various types of interfaces between devices (e.g., valves, temperature sensors, and pressure sensors) and control systems. To implement the functions in these applications, Device Type Manager (DTM) modules are utilized. For example, a particular user may utilize DTM modules that open and close valves in a manufacturing plant.
DTM modules are typically software modules and used to configure or control the various pieces of equipment. These modules are programmed to send various uniform commands and to keep and display data in a predetermined way. In a typical system, a gateway acts as an intermediate interface between device management applications and actual physical or field devices (e.g., those at a manufacturing plant).
The FDT Frame Application must be configured with the correct DTM types and connections in order to allow communication with the devices and the display of their data. Configuring the FDT Application requires a complete knowledge of the system topology and this, in turn, requires that the field devices be scanned so that the identity of these devices included in the system can be determined.
In previous systems, users are forced to consider much information from the remote site in order to configure the system. This makes things confusing and can lead to errors when configuring the system. All of these problems have led to some user dissatisfaction with these previous approaches.